Museum Collections

Ceracchi's idealized portrayal of Hamilton, in the guise of a noble Roman senator, was typical of the Neoclassical style that prevailed in European and American portrait sculpture during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The ennobling style, which captures a youthful Hamilton during his heyday as the first U.S. Treasury Secretary, harkens back to the classical portrait busts of ancient Rome, lending the sitter an authoratative and timeless aura.